O’s boss insists he won’t resign despite relegation, but will meet chairman to discuss the future

Leyton Orient manager Fabio Liverani will not resign despite the club suffering relegation to League Two following today’s 2-2 draw with Swindon Town at the County Ground.

Dean Cox fired them ahead in the 40th minute after Lloyd James had seen a penalty saved by substitute goalkeeper Cameron Belford, who was introduced after his brother Tyrell Belford was sent off for bringing the O’s midfielder down.

Chris Dagnall extended the lead two minutes into the second period, but a wonder goal from Anton Rodgers and a penalty from Andy Williams late on salvaged a point for the Robins, which in the process sent the Brisbane Road club.

The 1,131 away supporters in attendance called for Liverani to leave after it was confirmed the club would be playing in League Two next season.

But the Italian insisted it is too early to talk about his future and that he will meet with President Francesco Becchetti to discuss next season.

“No I will absolutely not resign,” said Liverani after the game via a translator.

“Today it is a bit too early to discuss my future. We have some days to recover psychologically from relegation and then I can meet with the chairman and discuss the future.

“Will I be in charge of Leyton Orient in League Two? This is something I can only respond when I have met the chairman.”

At half time the O’s were actually out of the relegation zone and played impressively, despite only being against 10 men.

Once Swindon pulled one back it went downhill and results elsewhere changed a succession of times before Colchester took the lead against Preston.

That effectively relegated the E10 club and once full time went there – it was confirmed Orient would be plying their trade in League Two next year.

Liverani believes his team weren’t hungry enough to defend properly and admitted the pressure of battling relegation got to them.

He added: “I think we have been creating chances to score, the biggest problem is we conceded many goals.

“We conceded too many chances to the opponent and for a team that needs to avoid relegation we should be more hungry to defend.

“Against Swindon we are 2-0 up, with one penalty miss, many chances created and hitting the crossbar.

“We could have secured a win today, but perhaps the pressure of facing relegation was very high on players and it has been a mirror of the season this game.”

Liverani is right when he says today’s game has been a mirror of the season. Orient looked excellent for 60 minutes, but as soon as Rodgers scored it seemed only a matter of time before Swindon equalised.

They had opportunities to get the third goal, however they failed to take them and slack defending was punished. It has happened too many times this campaign.

If they can’t beat a team playing with 10 men for 70 minutes then it is hard to argue against what you get and with a number of players out of contract it could prove to be a chaotic summer at Brisbane Road.

If you value what this story gives you, please consider supporting the East London Advertiser. Click the link in the yellow box below for details.

PROMOTED CONTENT

The new NHS Test and Trace service launched across England on May 28 forms a central part of the Government’s coronavirus recovery strategy to help us all get our lives back to something like normal. Here we explain how the system will work and answer some of the key questions which have been raised by members of the public.

Schools across the country have been preparing for some of their pupils to return to the classroom. Here is how one group of schools has been getting ready to make sure pupils can be taught safely and get on with lessons.